It is quite amazing the number of people who focus on the bad things and miserable events. These are usually people who have more than adequate lives. Often the people who have things the hardest are the most positive and find things to enjoy because the have found ways , one way or another to deal with the bad stuff.
I always try and look for positives, even when things go wrong. Luckily for me I am in an extremely good place, yes I would like to not have to go to work, to do what I want, but I know I will be sleeping in a warm bed and can have holidays and have a wonderful circle of friends, and to be really honest, work is a pleasant and interesting place to go, with some great people and daily interesting problems.
So try and distance yourself from the negative vibes, be like Oddball in "Kellys Heroes" and the song today is the wonderful "Prag Vec at The Melk Weg" by Half Man Half Biscuit. Look up that title on Google, see where it takes you, do something to put a smile on your face, smile at people, have a great day and push those negative vibes away.
I love seeing people smile , I love seeing people happy and I love smiling and being happy. Seeing a smile is infectious , I always smile back and sometimes I smile at people and they smile back at me. Yes the context has to be right (I watch Gotham and have seen some very worrying smiles) , but a smile does make you feel better.
I know society is not good at the moment and I am hopeful we can progress , I detest spitefulness greed and idiocy which seems to be the modus operandi for the government , but my friends and their friends are positive and pleasant people. I love going into work and the only pressure is to get the job done well and that means that there are plenty of opportunities to smile at work as there are lots of wonderful people that I work with.
It does help that the weather is generally summery at the moment , I woke up early and , the sun is streaming through the window although I am still very tired so will be going back to bed after this.
There have been a lot of free concerts in South Shields and tomorrow UB40 play Bents Park in South Shields , I tried to get to The Proclaimers and Lindisfarne the other week but I was a bit late and the gates were shut, and there were still huge queues outside , and I was amazed at the number of people complaining that the gates had been shut . It was very popular and public safety is paramount. Oh and my friend Steffen Peddie is playing The Customs House tonight ... now he WILL make you smile (and laugh loads).
Anyway I chose UB40's Sing Your Own Song as it always makes me feel good , and I hope it does the same for you.
Anyway , the weekend is just starting , so smile lots and enjoy other peoples' smiles. It's a simple concept and I know some people are only happy when they are miserable (Usually Mancs and soap opera characters... try Coronation Street and Eastenders, although I have met some brilliant Mancunians in my time such as John Cooper Clarke and others)
Smiling makes you feel better . You may feel you have nothing to smile about , but do it and something good has happened. You smiled. And That's good , so you can smile again. A smile causes the release of the same endorphins as a bar of chocolate, without the calories.
At work there are three people who ALWAYS have a smile on their faces , they raise my spirits and I'm sure they raise others spirits. I also know that these people have not had the easiest of times but they have found happiness and spread it around , making others happy.
If you smile people tend to smile back and then you raise each others spirits and they day gets better. Whatever you are doing gets easier, you get inspired , you work better and you just do better.
There are those who don't return smiles and you cannot force people
to be happy, but the more people who do smile , well they can spread it to the ones who don't think they can smile.
Yesterday I went to my friend Paul Campbell's 50th Birthday Party. I was thinking if he had known me when I turned 50 he could have bought be a bottle of the Singleton Whiskey , but a can of Campbell's Soup , I don't think would have been appropriate, unless it was a Warhol Print and then he would have to find somewhere to hang it.
Anyway as Paul is in London and I am in Newcastle there was a train journey involved. And I am a giver for World Book Night. The book is Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig which is about how he has dealt with and effectively overcome his depression (I know I am not in a position to comment on depression) , and at first I thought maybe this isn't the book to give to a really good friend but .....
The book is easy to read , full of white space , and brimming with hope and positivity , I was hoping to get part of the way through it but I finished and felt really good after reading it. Two years ago I gave away The Humans an novel in which he addressed his depression in a different way and well worth reading. I instagrammed several pages from the book and lots of people reacted positively.
A friend of mine had book the book but could not face it , because she thought it would be difficult. It isnt't . Read it and you will feel great.
Anyway , it's Monday Morning and time to kick off the week , and here is a total feelgood song for you
I always tell people I don't do stress , I don't do anger , I don't do hate .I try not to let any negative vibes come into my life. I saw a TED talk on the positives for stress which you can watch here. Stress can be good for you if you use it to your advantage. It's like any form of training , you push yourself , often to the realms of pain , but as long as you are not pushing beyond your limits your body and mind can grow stronger from stress training.
We often become stressed when we lose control of situations , but I have always found fun in situations with lots of unknowns . I like solving problems , but if I get stuck I ask for advice , and I always try to prepare for potential mishaps so that at least I have the odd thing to help me if things go wrong. The thing is , most of the time things generally go right.
I always try and extend my circle of friends and give people respect , that way you have someone to call on if you need help . I need both of my hands and more to count the number of people who I could ask for help from if I needed it.
A friend of mine recently told me that I don't stress like normal people , but told me some times I need to just slow down because I try to do so many things at once . Maybe it's just bad planning on my part , but going back I was playing at gig and took a work colleague along , she was a quiet girl but the following day asked me "How Do You Know So Many People?" , I didn't think I knew that many people but I obviously did compared to her. I just said I speak to people and keep in contact with them.
I'm pretty unusual in that I can speak to my neighbours face to face and know their names for four houses either side. Most people barely know their next door neighbours and that can actually create stress . I certainly don't have any stress there
I remember hearing the PIL song "Rise" thinking how beautiful it was , in the chorus , but the refrain"Anger is an Energy" which is the title of John Lydon's latest autobiography that I am reading and he explains how anger can be channeled positively to create good things. The book is well worth reading as Lydon is very articulate.
Anyway what was I saying. How am I normally not stress. I prepare for situations , if things suddenly change I adapt to that change . I don't get angry if a bus or train isn't on time , I almost find it amusing when I see traffic jams full of cars with one person in them. I don't own a car and only drive when I have to.
The other night leaving my youngest daughters wedding late at night I went in the wrong direction , no one stressed , it was suggested we turned round that we did and then we got back home at a reasonable hour. I know people who would have blown up in that situation.
So look for positives , look for things that make you laugh , don't over reach or try to do the impossible and enjoy as much as you can . That way stress levels go down. Don't look for things that may never happen . Carry a spare tire if you drive , but don't think every time to start your car that you are going to have to use it.
OK that's a few that's about my generally stress free life.
I think it's really important to enjoy yourself . Although real life often gets in the way.
Whey you are enjoying being warm in bed , you have to get up at some point , but I stretch it out as long as possible
When you are in the bath or shower feeling and enjoying the warm water flowing over you , I love that and probably spend a lot longer in there than I should
When you are with a friend or loved one or both , I love that , but have to depart for work or mow the lawn or some other chore.
The main thing is to try and extend enjoyment into everything you do. I like solving puzzles and problems and have seen virtually every job I do as that sort of task , which then makes it enjoyable, rather than a chore. If you make your job enjoyable , then it stops being a job and becomes a form of enjoyment. I continually look for ways of making things better for me and others and when someone notices that it gives you a great feeling.
I always try and look for positives in every situation and that in itself becomes an entertaining challenge.
But anyway I know I haven't been writing much recently , and I have no excuse for it , apart from I have been spending a lot of time enjoying myself and that's no bad thing. And the song it's Baxter Dury's Pleasure , which always makes me happy, ad stimulates my enjoyment.
Well it's the first day of March , first day of Spring and we have rain , cold , wind , snow , we have weather. This most is just some thoughts that got set off as I read Tracey Thorn's biography Bedsit Disco Queen . She is obviously famous enough to release a record and and her autobiography , but that only came with her hard work , talent , belief in herself and some huge slices of luck in meeting the right people and being in the right place at the right time. Belief in yourself gives you the confidence to do things , be it writing , applying for a job , building something , making music or introducing yourself to a stranger.
If you have belief in yourself you can help others who are less fortunate that you , you can hold their hands , you can give them advice.
People often look at their lives and say if they had done something differently then their lives would be much better. They can never know this. In my life I have have made lots of wrong decisions , but if I had done anything differently I wouldn't be in the position I am in now , and to be quite honest , I am incredibly happy with my situation at the moment. Yes there I things I would like to be better (more money , less work) but I have a wealth of friends and the ability for the most part to do what I want, the only constraints are time and distance and to some extent money.
I have friends who have become very successful and am still close to them , and it just makes be happy that they share their success rather than flaunt it. But I am sure there are lots of times in their lives where things just fell right.
Again reading Thorn's biography there are so many times when something unexpected happened which then resulted in being the stimulus to produce a song or play a gig, which then eventually resulted in the formation of Everything But The Girl (taken from the name of a clothes shop in Hull where Tracey and Ben Watt were at University) so if they hadn't gone to Hull , they maybe wouldn't have got that name and they may not have been as hugely successful as they became.
I decided to include Tracey singing with Massive Attack , a great collaboration and a lesson to us , don't dismiss something if it doesn't conform to the norm.
I think the thing in life is to find happiness in what you have and to share with as many friends as possible, and if you don;t have enough friends , talk to people , you never know who you might find. Don't sit back , go out and have fun , and the good times and good friends will show themselves,
So although luck gives us opportunities , sometimes it's up to us to grab those opportunities and create the situation where those opportunities occur. You don't usually get a job offer if you don't apply for a job (although it has happened to me a few times).
We are in mid January , experiencing the Christmas and New year comedown. However this is only problem if you have nothing to look forward to. I saw an internet meme saying that "Successful People Set Goals" among other things and they are grateful. Last night I watched an episode of The Last Kingdom and Utrid's wife said "God brought you home" , Utrid is not enamoured of the Christian God and said "My sword brought me home".
My goals are to be happy by planning events to share with my friends , and make sure I have things to look forward to with the special people in my life , do a decent job , and be grateful when things go well. It's very seldom that good things just happen to us , but by taking certain positive steps and not sitting at hope you can end up coming into contact with people who actually make your life far more excellent because they introduce you to new things and new people and bring a light into your life.
Anyway it's the middle of the week, and this week I will see people , talk to people who will make
me smile and tell me new things and that will make my life better. Work is scary at the moment because I am dealing with a landslide of paperwork , but it's just a challenge and I will use this to put things in place so that next time I will be able to deal with it. The first time can sometimes be daunting.
But I am already planning things for this year, visiting different parts of the country and just having a brilliant time , and it is going to start today.
I thought I would include a TED talk on smiling , smile more it will make you feel better.
There are lots of bad things in this world , make sure you are one of the good things. and most of all be happy.
OK here's the thing today I'm 58 , well my body is, my brain / personality / curiosity etc is still i the 14 - 16 age group. I still have wonder, I still love it in others , I still crave love , knowledge , attention, friendship and happiness. Maybe my caring, love and valuing of friends has grown over the years . I do look out for people and when times are bad I am there for them it does spread me thin,
Some people need me more than others. I need some people more than others.
Anyway here's the thing , here's the task. You know I love music so there will be 58 posts , one a day , each with a record from a year in my life. They may mean something , they may mean nothing, the may be relevant to the post or not.
So whats , number one , this originally was going to be Harry Nillson's One a very sad song , but I was just going to base it on the day number , but this gives me a chance to play something uplifting and worthy , and the words to this resonate so well Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It " from 1957
This is an addendum to my last post. In the UK it's now dark , and usually wet and damp in a good devils to fight my bad devils),
morning. If someone is in a dark place they will be feeling even worse just because of the weather. This means that if you are in an OK place , like I am (OK I am a devil for hiding when I feel bad cos I don't think anyone needs to be bothered with such trivialities, although I have
So here's your task for today:
Smile as much as you can if you are happy
If you are not happy ask a friend to meet (that might be me)
Phone A friend
Hold Hands
Go For A Coffee
Just Talk
It's easy to think you don't matter, no one wants you , and you mean nothing . That is not true. Reach out and I will give you my hand and give you a hug. I've included two Big Daddy songs , play these and your day will be better and you will smile.
I do . And I know doom mongers will say it can't last but why not. I wake up every morning smiling , happy and looking forward to what;s coming my way even though sometimes I haven't a clue what that is.
I know bad things do happen but a positive attitude helps over those things . I love it when good things happen for my friends and those i love (and that's a big overlapping group , everyone I love is my friend) , and if something bad happens I am a shoulder to lean on , and friend to talk to , and someone to bring a smile to your face.
I often but small presents for friends , and they say you shouldn't have. There is as much pleasre in giving as well as getting.
Sometimes friends will say they've let me down because they can't make a gig or something , because they are feeling under the weather. They never let me down , I am adaptable and sometimes able to stand on my own two feet even. If they aren't well I am looking out for them and thinking about them.
One thing about me is that I can adapt , things can change beyond recognition and I'll keep on my feet and work out the next steps.
Yes I am not a Syrian refugee , I am well aware of plights of the oppressed and while my only contribution is charity donations and verbal support , I do tend to concentrate my attention closer to home.
So please be kind , feel good yourself and look out for others.
I love my friends so much
I'm really sorry if this seems like a new age rant . It's just to know that if I can be I will be there for you because I know you will there for me. I don't complain if I buty you a drink , a meal or a bar of chocolate , there is as much joy for me in seeing your smile and you get from what I give .There's only one song isn't there
Give someone a hug and hold their hand today , they may need it , and I'm certain they will want it
The thing is , I KNOW the negative devil lies and the positive one tells the truth. For me that devil
wins every time which is why my life is so good. Some people sometimes let their negative devil in and that makes life intolerable . Yes things go wrong , but there are people (like me) who will always be there to help and hold out my hand.
I love being happy , it makes me feel good , and I was going to have some doomy gloom music , but then this song jumed into my head. My positive devil was there for me once again . So you get Kevin Ayer's The Up Song , guaranteed to make you smile although at the bottom is me singing The Cult's Lil' Devil with Spoon
One of my friends posted this picture the other day and at first I thought that's not very nice, although it is funny, and in that situation that exactly what you need. Social Media allows us to interact with so many people, offend people, and also make people smile as well. I much prefer making people smile and a laugh.
Then this morning I saw this great animated video which lots of people like, is not offensive and just makes you happy. Some friends were unable to see this so I found it on Youtube, I hope it's visible now
Really the greatest feeling is different depending on the moment. I love it hearing from friends , even just a line by whatever method is available. A few weeks back I had lunch with Juliet , Kirsty , Fiona and Mark at that was just great everyone talking to each other, being positive and enjoying each others good feelings.
Sometimes it might be writing, sometimes it's hearing a song you'd forgotten about, having a meal in a great restaurant like the Black Lion in Thirsk yesterday, there's lots of things that can be the best feeling ever, it's just whatever feels perfect in the moment.
We're into December know with the run up to Christmas, and yes I'm still on holiday and relaxing and resting. I hope your week is going well and you are having a good time, don't work too hard and do everything you can to feel good.
While it's good to have things and be able to do things it's no use at all if you;re the only one who benefits from those things. The problem is with modern society is that the emphasis is on accumulation and possession to the point where it's not enough for you to succeed but others have to fail. The has resulted in a plethora of TV programs which often promote non intellectuality as a desireable trait. You all know what I 'm talking about and hopefully you hold the same disdain for such things as I do.
Today I shared a lovely lunch with Fiona , Juliet, Kirsty and Mark at Dat Bar in Newcastle and it was an absolutely wonderful couple of hours, and the food was good too. I could have gone there on my own five times but it would not have been anywhere near as enjoyable. The food was wonderful and the conversion about everything from Mark's Nokia phone to TV programs , why Juliet and Kirsty didn't like Gotham and Fiona's handbag expertise meant that every second was totally enjoyable and is another thing that I can look back on with enjoyment.
Too many times we put things off for one reason or another, and sometimes weeks turn to months turn to years turn to never, so you should never put off things like this more than once as they can be so rewarding for everyone involved. There were lots of smiles and laughs today and that's the way things should be when it's practicable to be so. It should essentially be the norm in life.
So I know the weekend is nearly over, but do something enjoyable and share it with someone , and have a lot of fun doing it. Put a smile on everyone's faces.
Not me , but a heck of a lot of people. Last night I got a good sleep, and had a relaxing day , barring the chopping of logs for the wood burning fire. So many people are going round looking for people to blame for anything they can think off. I remember last year a couple of old guys nearly coming to blows in a betting over over who was to blame for the snowed off race meeting , the government or the council.
Similarly you have the tabloids whipping the public up into a panic of weather , immigration, benefits , heath, whatever.
If you want to get retweeted on Twitter you have to tweet something bad or derogatory or a complaint, probably why I only have a massive 24 followers on my account mikeydred96.
The thing is there are loads of brilliant positive things in the world. If something goes wrong deal with it with help from your friends, it's what they are there for. So many seem to want to play the blame game , I prefer to fix things.
I look for things that put a smile on my face , and they are majorly abundant, although the major ones is people talking to to me and sharing good times. I just wish more people would do things like that. I am proud to have great encouraging friends all over the world who look out for me and always have good news for me and make my day happier.
So my message for today is , you sunshine people out there who keep making my day , please keep making mine and other peoples day, and those out there who play the blame game, try not to , look for something positive , buy someone a present , phone someone. So today I'm going to post two videos, one The Damned singing the track that inspired the titls and the wonderful Simon's Cat. I am NOT a cat person but these cartoon are brilliant. Enjoy the rest of your weekend my friends.
Just woke up , and it's 2am here and I'm just posting because I can. I feel wide awake , but 2 am is not a good time to be wide awake unless you're at a party. But there's no work tomorrow so I can do this. It's also an excuse to include a brilliant TED Talk on the "science" of happiness and it is worth watching. One of the reasons I blog is so that I can remember things that I've enjoyed, sometimes it will be a gig , sometimes something I've seen on the web , meeting with friends and lots of things and that's why I leave it open to the public because others my find itinformative and worth reading.
I'm a fairly public person on the web, easy to find if you want, but I suppose the blog is fairly selfish and self centered, itn that it's essentially for me, and if others want to come along for the ride then so be it.
I really didn't intend this post to be much more than a sentence , but it's amazing how sometimes once you start writing words seem to just flow from your fingertips. Whether those words are worth committing to some permanent medium is a different matter (M Knight Shyamalan and Dan Brown I'm thinking of you, but it's made you both a hell of a lot richer than most people, so as usual I'm in the tasteful minority here).
Anyway I'm going to try and get back to sleep, but really check out Dan Gilbert's talk, be happy and have a great weekend.
In my last post I said I wasn't impressed with Pharrel's Happy. That's just my opinion and I know lot's of people who think it's wonderful, ad let's face it , it would be a boring world if we all liked the same thing.
If you#re happy it makes life much better, things may cause us problems , but these are times when you need to hook on to what makes you happy . It may be friends , family , music , films , books, a TV program , something inspiring , just go to what lifts your spirit. Happiness brings on amazing positivity, it helps you make life better.
We all have lot's of things that make us happy and they are usually not very far away.
This post is not a very Monday morning post as it's the start of another weak , but I have lots to keep me occupied on my journey to work, I know I will laugh a lot while I'm at work , and I know I will enjoy the journey home. I may see a gorgeous sunrise and good things may happen that I have got a clue about and life is really about looking for and appreciating these things . The more things you can find that make you happy then the happier you can be, and the happier you are then life is so much better.
So find the sunshine in everything and have a great start to a great week. And these means I can post my other favourite song called Happy by The Carpenters, my mums favourite band and she loved this song as well!.
We have blue skies, though summer is over and autumn is here, our precursor to winter. Autumn fills the landscape with amazing colours, as the leaves on trees and plants metamorphose and fall to the ground.
Autumn Garden Colours
Every opportunity you get you should find something to enjoy. It maybe taking with a friend, listening to music you love , going out for a walk, reading a book , watching a film or a show. All of these things and more can lift your spirits and set you up for the week ahead, whatever you have coming.
If things are going to be hard, it's good to prepare yourself my making yourself feel good when you have the opportunity. A friend posted an interesting article about the 21 things that happy people do. The list is here, please read and take them on board.
While I know there are certain people who embody the apparent oxymoron that they are only "happy when they are miserable" , I'm unlikely to persuade them to change their view on life , but I hope that for everyone else, you will take some time today to make yourself happy. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and set yourself up for the coming week.
I've included the joyous Later.. medley of Madness/ Enjoy Yourself featuring Prince Buster and Suggs of Madness for your enjoyment.
Today three people have really made my day just by appreciating something I had done. What I did wasn't much but it does make you feel good when people appreciate your efforts on something. The people will probably never see this but it is amazing what effect a simple well intentioned thank you can do. It makes you want to try harder for people and makes you appreciate those people as well.
This is going to be a short post because it's really just about another way you can brink positivity to the fore and make people happier. If you engage with people , talk with people , your smile can carry through the most mundane of mediums , even text.
So if you can thank someone for something, do it with a smile, and bring sunshine into yours and their life. Enjoy tonight everyone. This also gives me an excuse to include one of Barclay James Harvest's rockier moments which I first heard on the Old Grey Whistle Test , and it is an absolute killer riff. As I said Enjoy your night.
Just a short post today , but I'm quite surprised that I'm getting 50 views of the page and comments from unexpected sources , all positive. Hope you are all enjoying these.
There's only one song , obviously , the totally happy Bobby McFerrin number "Don't Worry, Be Happy".
Well today we have rain , the weather is overcast , people are saying summer is over , but it can always be summer in your heart. The rain waters the gardens and plants which can feed is or give us something enjoyable to look at. That just reminds me of a wonderful TED talk about a guerrilla gardener in LA. I'm including it here. Watch it - it is inspirational and uplifting and may give you some ideas!!:
Anyway the weekend is here, and if you can bring your sunshine to others , spread the happiness, help others and feel good. Enjoy yourself and if you see me say hello !